Editorial: Not reusing water a waste

A duck swims in a pond at Cedar Crest Golf Course holding reclaimed wastewater, as part of a city of Dallas pilot project. The treated wastewater is used to irrigate the Oak Cliff golf course.

Published: 14 May 2014 07:41 PM

Updated: 15 May 2014 09:24 AM

OK, it can be yucky to imagine that that which you flushed away yesterday could return to your home tomorrow.

North Texas isn’t quite ready to go the way of Wichita Falls and its “toilet to tap” plan to merge treated wastewater into its drinking supplies, but it’s smart water policy for additional cities to find more mentally acceptable reuses for the water that flows from our homes.

That cloud you see might not be rain; it could be a drought-ridden future that will force us to radically adjust our water consumption. Even recent showers here in North Texas made barely a dent in what is shaping up as a historic drought.

Water planning, once the province of the nerdy, now ranks among Texas’ leading mainstream concerns. Going a few years without enough rain will do that to a people.

Flower Mound, in southern Denton County, is the latest North Texas community to explore expanding its use of treated wastewater, instead of buying more expensive potable water purified to drinking standards. Beyond median and park irrigation uses, Flower Mound is now considering whether to “intercept” even more for irrigating the western side of town, which is just starting development.

As Ken Parr, the town’s public works director, told the Town Council in a recent briefing, “Every million gallons of treated wastewater reuse is a million gallons we don’t have to buy” from the Trinity River Authority.

That wastewater, which flowed from thousands of homes in Denton County, has been treated and cleaned and was headed back into the watershed. Flower Mound only has to grab it before it flows into creeks or lakes.

The cost savings could be significant. Frisco uses reclaimed water to irrigate a golf course, parks and common areas in two neighborhoods. Public Works Director Gary Hartwell said Frisco commercial users pay 75 cents per thousand gallons for treated wastewater, compared with $3.33 for potable.

Dallas is working with the U.S. Interior Department on a reclaimed water feasibility study. As part of its long-range plan, officials could expand treated wastewater use to cool air-conditioning towers or to irrigate the Dallas Arboretum and private Lakewood Country Club.

Wichita Falls officials project running dry in two years and are more willing to consider mixing treated wastewater into their drinking supply. It’s not unprecedented; as the drought has lengthened, more communities, including Orange County, Calif., have taken that step.

Parr says the quality of treated wastewater is better than that of the creek or river it’s flowing into. However, it’s not hard to find Wichita Falls residents swearing to convert to strict bottled water regimens. It’s a mental thing.

Still, one aspect of a changing climate is less rain and longer droughts for Texas. Conserving this resource is important, but conservation alone isn’t enough. Smarter use — and reuse — of water is essential, too.

Treated wastewater uses

Wichita Falls: Built a 13-mile pipeline connecting its waste treatment plant directly to a second facility that purifies drinking water instead of releasing wastewater down river.

San Antonio: Processes it into compost and biogas and uses it to irrigate almost all golf courses, parks and college campuses. Also used at its Toyota plant in manufacturing process. The water that runs through the River Walk is treated wastewater.

Frisco: Uses reclaimed water to irrigate a golf course, parkland and common areas in two neighborhoods.

El Paso: Recycles all of its wastewater; most is used for cooling industrial plants or watering playing fields, but “it’s been accepted that we’re recharging some of that water into the aquifer” and the Rio Grande, said Edmund Archuleta, president of El Paso Water Utilities.

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